The Feeding At The Profit Trough Continues: “Rant Or Vote”
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 17th, 2010
Okay, the weekend is over; it’s time to get back into the financial fray. I’ve been reading up on Goldman Sachs and it seems that they are talking out of both sides of their mouths. One side speaks to the public in support of financial reform, meanwhile the other side is busier than ever safeguarding its interests by hiring 40 lobbyists to solely target financial reform.
Even though a civil fraud case brought against the bank last month by the Securities and Exchange Commission, lead us to predict that Goldman’s future is not as bright as they have seen in the past, they are still one of the most influential of the nation’s top six banks, and they plan on holding their position. From what I can see, Goldman isn’t going down without a fight. And in fact they are upping the ante when it comes to lobbyist spending to ensure their position:
Goldman’s professional persuaders hail from 14 different lobbying firms, Senate lobbying records show. No other top bank — not JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo or Citigroup — has as many firms lobbying on its behalf. Goldman has hired nearly 40 lobbyists, all former government employees, to target financial reform alone, Senate disclosure records show.
These services have not come cheaply. Since the beginning of 2009, Goldman has spent nearly $6 million on lobbying, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Only Citigroup and JPMorgan spent more.
So far this year, Goldman has revved up its lobbying even further. In the first three months of 2010, the bank spent $1.53 million lobbying, a 22 percent jump over the same period last year. Goldman also has increased its donations to political campaigns.
“It does show how a corporation will leave no stone unturned — creating a powerful and potentially influential lobbying force,” said Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that advocates for greater disclosure of how Washington works and is influenced.
Readers: What did Anonz say to us a while back? I think we need a little reminder:
Rather than complain about us feeding at the trough, remove it.
Destroy it by; (1) insisting that special interest groups not be allowed to lobby congress. (2) Out law PAC’s political contributions (3) get your Congress to fix the opinion rendered by the bought and paid for 6 of the Supreme Court who ruled that corporations can spend as much as they want on political issues and candidates.
Goldman Sachs is doing everything that Anonz has suggested that we prevent. Not only is Goldman Sachs lobbying like they’ve never lobbied before, but they have increased their donations to political campaigns. And it isn’t just Goldman. Check this out:
To be sure, Goldman isn’t the only investment bank with a sophisticated lobbying operation, and pro-financial reform groups have attacked them all. Last week, three liberal advocacy groups said they had tallied the amount of money big banks are spending to influence financial reform: An estimated $600 million on lobbying and political campaign contributions since the government bailed out Bear Stearns in March 2008, and a lobbying force of more than 240 former government officials and Capitol Hill staffers. (Labor groups today will take to the lobbying industry’s venerable K Street corridor in Washington to protest the prominent role lobbyists are playing in the financial reform debate.)
And Goldman is smart. They know how to do it right. The bank was once nicknamed ‘Government Sachs’ because they had a long tradition of swapping employees with the federal government, including Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin.
Goldman also hired 13 outside lobbying firms, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. These lobbyists include former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt; Stephen Elmendorf, Gephardt’s former adviser; Ken Duberstien, former chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan; and Janice O’Connell, former adviser to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Goldman also has tapped Harold Ford Sr., a former Democratic congressman from Tennessee and Daniel Meyer, former chief of staff to then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
There’s a voracious appetite out there. I hope that my write today has reminded you that unless we put a stop to all of this, they will continue to stroll to the profit trough and feed. Like Anonz says, “Rant of vote.”
Thoughts? Comments? Blog me.
Clarence: I haven’t addressed the likes of men such as yourself in a long time. I have no time for bigots that I know I can’t knock some sense into. But what I do have time for is watching Madaline knock some sense into you, or at least revel in her attempt to. I know, impossible. But if anyone can spank some sense into the likes of you, Madaline is the one. Yes, I can say the only thing I look forward to when it comes to you, is Madaline whooping your white ass. Ah… a girl can dream can’t she? (That’s a nod to you Gloria:) The cool thing is though, for this girl, my dreams become my reality with the snap of my finger…okay, more like the tap of my keyboard. :) Bring it on.
Karen, Jamie, Zen Lill: I thought this was hilarious too and as far as I know it’s real. Did you catch the notation after the ‘cucumber’ on the list? And in answer to your question ZL, I have a feeling that’s on Walter’s list.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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May 17th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Hi Mischa, yeah I got that Walt probably had it on his list but I like to be there when things are being picked out to wear on me, that’s just me, but if someone proceeds without me and I hate the outfit and shoes don’t fit, it’s all good, they just have to remove everything with their teeth (and tongue) and do it slowly, carefully and convincingly ; ) and next time I go along for the shopping adventure (that’s more fun anyway in my opinion)…anything else these two forgot? I’ll have to think about it, this was LOL and reminded me of a tine handbag I found at a sushi bar once, it contained: a woman’s ID, one biz card, one cigarette, one condom, hee hee, hit a club, find man, fuck man one time, smoke after and hit the road, I liked her forethought : ) her cell # was on the card, I called her she came by and we laughed and she carried on with her plan!
Yes, Anonz said and you’re saying and now I’ll say it too, Rant or Vote, just do it : )
How about if bigots and racists start carrying ‘papers’ so we can just ‘profile’ them wiothout having to bother chatting for 5 miniutes, don’t want to waste time now do we?
FYI, I watched a great documentary called ‘Grass’ and the beginnings of our (not me, I love em’ for this) hatred for Mexicans (yep, they know how to relax after a day at work before we did and we became suspect of them, watch and catch all the reasons) and it also showed just how obnoxious white males can be when they’re fighting their ‘wars’ (war on drugs, oh please, what did pot ever do except make people laugh?) – the references to pot smokers always graduating to heroin usage had me in stitches, all done very 50-60′s style. I love learning new stuff on any topic. I followed this documentary by wathcing Cheech and CHong’s ‘Nice Dreams’ and could not stop laughing.
Be back later today or tonmorrow with a killer exercise for you!
Caio, pluvness, Zen Lill
May 17th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Misch, I know it’s a lot to ask but do you have sites/letters/links available to post that will make ranting on Anonzs’ 1-2-3 rants be heard by the right people? How do we go up against the supreme court?? I don’t even understand how they can be apppointed for life and get away with what they do, it’s absurd that there’s bit term limits on such a damaging bunch making damaging decisions such as #3.
You probably don’t know the answer to that little conundrum…I’m finding it depressing that the sheep keep getting fleeced and we assist in the process
G’nite : ) ZL